Supervisor(s)
:

Stewart, D. Andrew

Abstract:

The ability to evoke meaning and emotion through sound is a powerful feature of electroacoustic music. Research in the areas of music psychology and cognition suggest that timbre, the elicitation of physical gestures, and familiarity may influence how a listener comprehends sound and draws meaning from music. By synthesizing research in the areas of electroacoustic music and music cognition, I formulated two propositions. The first suggests that timbre characteristics may be leveraged to elicit emotional response and past experiences. The second suggests that sound can be used to reference physical gestures and activate empathic responses in a listener. I composed a new three- movement work, entitled Open Doors and Parallel Windows, exploring how my two propositions can function as tools to assist the composer to increase affective response and be the conceptual basis for new works.